1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine that automatically wraps silverware within a napkin.
2. Background of the Prior Art
One of the tasks for restaurant servers is to wrap silverware in a napkin. In the modern world, where hygiene and cleanliness are prime considerations for restaurant selection, many people perceive a wrapped and possibly banded set of silverware to be superior from a cleanliness perspective than simply placing the silverware upon a napkin in open face fashion. As such, dozens or even hundreds (depending on the size of the restaurant and the volume anticipated) of wrapped silverware napkin sets are prepared so that an ample supply is on hand whenever the restaurant is busy and table turnaround speed is a critical factor for a successful meal rush. A bus boy cleans the table, grabs a few previously prepared wrapped silverware napkin sets, places the napkin sets on the table, and the table is ready to be sat by incoming customers. This system allows for efficiency in table turnover which is critical during peak times.
Typically, the very dull and tedious task of the silverware wrapping task falls on the wait staff either at the start of the shift or at the end of the shift when the wait person is not otherwise taking care of customers. While efficient, this task has certain drawbacks. Wrapping silverware means that the wait person is not serving customers, and is therefore, not earning tips which account for the lion's share of most wait person's income. When the silverware wrapping task falls to the end of the shift, as is often the case with lunch staff, the waiter or waitress, being finished with the tip garnering wait task, and having a pocket full of tip money, is anxious to leave work and considers the requirement of silverware wrapping to be tedious drudgery. As such, many wait people fly through the wrapping task unconcerned with the quality of the finished product so that the next shift is faced with less the properly presentable wrapped silverware, possibly requiring a rewrap or simply giving the customer less than the expected quality of service. Every restaurant manager understands the critical importance of a good first impression upon customers, including a nicely presented silverware packet so that an improper initial presentation is to be avoided. Additionally, some wait people try to get a jump on the silverware wrapping task by wrapping silverware as the customer load slows down. Unfortunately, many people become tunnel focused on the task at hand so that any remaining tables being served by that wait person suffer from poor service.
Another problem is encountered if the wrapped silverware available for placement on top a table runs out during a shift, either from inadequate supply left by the previous shift or by unexpected volume during the present shift. In either case, one or more restaurant personnel must stop what they are doing and wrap more silverware with the attendant suffering of service in those particular employees' responsibility areas.
And of course, the restaurant must pay the staff for the wrapping task, which multiplied over time, comes up to be a pretty penny.
To address these concerns, silverware wrapping machines have been proposed. These devices are loaded with napkins and silverware and wrap the silverware within the napkin, in either a fully automatic or partially automatic fashion, thereby relieving the staff from some or all of the silverware wrapping task. These devices, which come in a wide variety of architectures and work with varying degrees of efficiency, also suffer from certain drawbacks. Many such prior art devices are very complex in design and construction so that they are relatively very expensive to produce, purchase and maintain. As a result, only larger restaurants that have a high volume over which to amortize the costs can economically afford to purchase such devices. Additionally, many of these devices have a large real estate footprint which requires setting aside a large area within the restaurant for these devices. As space is at a premium in many restaurants, especially in the back of the house, such devices tend to be too large to be placed into the restaurant. Furthermore, many of the semi-automatic devices require substantial human interchange with the device so that the saving in employee time is slight and does not justify the investment in such devices.
What is needed is an automatic silverware wrapping system that wraps silverware within a napkin, so as to achieve a professional appearing silverware packet, which system overcomes the stated shortcomings found in the prior rt. Such a system must be able to wrap the silverware within a napkin without undue interaction with the restaurant employees in order to allow the restaurant to be able to realize significant employee cost savings. Such a system must not be unduly complex so that the system is relatively simple and straightforward to produce so as to keep the costs low in order to allow a restaurant to obtain such a device in an economical fashion. Such a device must be reasonably compact so as not to require a large amount of the valuable real estate within a restaurant.